2022 Year in Review

W H A T W E R E T H E C I R C U M S T A N C E S T H A T L E D T O
S U C H P O L I T I C A L I N E R T I A I N T H E C O U N T R Y ?
Fuelled largely by the Iraqi leaders’ inability to form a coalition government, this crisis
has brought considerable attention to the power struggle between certain factions in the
country. Iraq’s status as the OPEC’s second-largest oil producer intensifies the power
rivalry between these factions.
At the heart of last year’s political crisis was Moqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric whose party
won the most number of votes in the country’s October 2021 election. Although his party
won the largest share of seats, they failed to secure a majority. In other words, the
results were inconclusive, and the elections did not deliver a majority government.
On the other hand, the Sadrist Movement, led by al-Sadr, promotes an anti-Western and
nationalist ideology. Its rival bloc, the Coordination Framework, comprises other Shiite
parties including the Al-Fatah alliance and State of Law Coalition. Nouri al-Maliki, a longtime
rival of al-Sadr, is the most influential member of the pro-Iran Coordination
Framework.
In last year’s election, the infighting between these rival political groups prevented the
formation of government in the conflict-ridden country. The factions failed to reach an
agreement on the composition of the government. The Shiite scholar al-Sadr refused to
negotiate with the Coordination Framework to form a government. Since then, the
country has witnessed turmoil, and citizens have had to deal with the consequences of
this protracted political instability.
V I O L E N C E I N I R A Q ’ S G R E E N Z O N E
Frustrated with the deadlock, months after winning the largest share of seats in
the 2021 election, al-Sadr announced his exit from politics. He withdrew his
lawmakers, triggering violent protests in Baghdad.
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In August 2022, his loyal supporters, who were until that point staging a sit-in in
Baghdad’s Green Zone, stormed cabinet headquarters and fired grenades in the
Zone. This sparked violent clashes with the security forces and reports stated
that nearly 300 people were left injured, with the death toll rising to 22 Iraqis.
The Zone hosts multiple government buildings and foreign embassies. Many
countries were forced to act in response to these violent clashes and protests.